Artikeleigenschaften von FROST, Frank: Jelly Roll King (CD)

Interpret: FROST, Frank

Albumtitel: Jelly Roll King (CD)

Format
CD

Title
Jelly Roll King (CD)

Label
CHARLY

EAN: 0082333176522

weight in Kg 0.000

Artist description "Frost, Frank"

Frank Frost

Sam Phillips launched Sun Records on a nutritious diet of hard-hitting blues in 1952. A decade later, he'd abandoned the genre almost entirely until Frank Frost came along. Doubling on racked harmonica and guitar, Frost's brand of electrified juke joint-approved blues was as uncompromisingly raw as those of Howlin' Wolf and Joe Hill Louis had been when Phillips produced them. Sam placed Frank and his Night Hawks (guitarist Big Jack Johnson and drummer Sam Carr) on his Phillips International label, releasing an entire LP on the trio titled 'Hey Boss Man!' as well as the hard-hitting single Jelly Roll King.

Born in Augusta, Arkansas on April 15, 1936, Frost became musically active after moving to St. Louis in 1951. After taking up the harmonica with the help of Willie Foster, Carr—the son of slide guitarist Robert Nighthawk—hired Frank as a member of Carr's Blue Kings. By then, Frost was playing guitar as well. The pair joined harp master Sonny Boy Williamson's outfit in '56.

"We went to a little place in Missouri," said the late Frost. "We had to play there, and he had to play there. So we were playing downstairs, and he was playing upstairs." Soon enough they were playing together. Irascible Sonny Boy had no use for the capo Frank used on his guitar. "We got on this bridge comin' to Chicago, and he told me, 'Let me see it,'" said Frost. "I just thought he wanted to look at it. And he throwed it off the bridge! Ever since then, I've been usin' it without a clamp. I didn't have no choice!"

Johnson, born July 30, 1940 in Lambert, Mississippi, played in his father's combo in his early teens to hone his skills on guitar. He inaugurated a long musical partnership with Frost and Carr in 1962 after catching them at the Savoy Theater in Clarksdale, Mississippi. "You know it was something special," said the late Johnson. "Yeah, man, these cats was out of sight. Frank was the vocalist, blowing the harp with the rack and playing guitar. That was something we hadn't seen around here."

Probably cut April 28, 1962, Jelly Roll King was a throwback to an earlier era, Frost's combo locking in on a tough Jimmy Reed-style shuffle groove that Frost settles into with juke joint-tested assurance, his wailing harp complementing his lowdown vocal delivery. Neither the single nor the LP made any ripples commercially, but Phillips' last shot at producing southern blues was a delight.

Frost cut another album, this time in Nashville, for Stan Lewis' Jewel label in 1966 that was produced by Elvis' ex-guitarist Scotty Moore; My Back Scratcher, his answer to Slim Harpo's Baby Scratch My Back, blossomed into an R&B hit. Big Jack and Sam remained the nucleus of Frost's band, and the set was as gloriously pure as its illustrious predecessor. The trio kept on entertaining audiences around Clarksdale and Lula until they were rediscovered by Chicago-based producer Michael Frank. He launched the Earwig label to release the trio's '78 album 'Rockin' The Juke Joint Down,' renaming Frost, Johnson, and Carr the Jelly Roll Kings.

By 1987, Frank and Big Jack were both successfully recording on their own. Frost died October 12, 1999, but Johnson, nicknamed 'the Oil Man,' kept on performing until his death from kidney failure on March 14, 2011 in Memphis. His profile raised in recent years by a trophy case full of awards, Carr passed away September 21, 2009. As a unit, this threesome cut some of the meanest blues of their time.